


Pieces as We Go

by ValmureEld



Series: Team Succeed or Die Trying [7]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Anger, Banter, Cuddling, Dark Thoughts, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Grieving, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Nightmares, PTSD, Past Violence, Sass, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Whump, difficult past, reassurance, some light Sypha and Trevor too, the sass is back in chapter three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 05:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12125550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValmureEld/pseuds/ValmureEld
Summary: They knew they'd become some kind of broken, dysfunctional family when they started picking each others pieces up along the road. On peaceful nights, when the moon was full and they'd had enough to eat and the demons let loose were calm, their own tended to raise ugly heads.





	1. Alucard

**Author's Note:**

> My friend who's been nothing but a bad influence in encouraging me to write more suggested that each of the trio have demons that would come out eventually and that I should explore them. So here they are. Alucard is up first.

“I'LL RIP YOU APART!” 

Trevor's adrenaline spiked, trying to back away as Alucard swiped out with a clawed hand. He had been attempting to wake the dhampir, to pull him out of whatever had him curled on his side and whimpering like a child, but the plan had backfired as quickly as he'd formed it. He wasn't near quick enough and the vampire's claws sunk into his chest, tearing a bloody path right through the Belmont family crest. 

Shocked, too surprised to register the pain at first, Trevor's mouth gaped a little and he fell back, his eyes rolling back in his head. Sypha scrambled and was just in time to catch him, alarm turning her face white as she hefted him up against her and settled him against her legs, supporting his head in the crook of her arm. “Trevor?” she whispered, her voice trembling and her eyes wide. 

“I—forgive me,” Alucard said, and Sypha looked up to meet his eyes. The dhampir was on his knees, brow drawn in distress as he reached out a hand as though pleading. It was still wet with Trevor's blood. Sypha hugged Trevor to herself a little closer. 

“Are you in control?” she asked evenly, eyes flitting from Alucard's bloodied hand to his face. She'd never seen him look so distressed or tortured.

“Yes, please, let me help him. Let me fix my mistake...” 

They stoked the fire and Trevor came awake while they worked, his bright blue eyes sparking with alarm as they settled on Alucard. Sypha held him, keeping him from reacting to the flight or fight response and making his injury worse. 

“It's alright, Trevor, hold still,” she pleaded, stroking back his hair as his eyes followed the vampire like a wary animal. His chest heaved, the cords in his neck drawn tight and his hand settled on the handle of his whip.

“I'm—forgive me,” Alucard said, holding a needle in his hand. “Let me?”

His throat bobbed and he shook his head, hissing through his teeth as the heavy breathing pulled at his wound. “How deep did you go!?” he demanded, pressing a hand to the wound and strangling as white invaded his vision. Alucard's hand on his wrist gently pulled it away, and Trevor rested against Sypha, her hand on his arm helping to ground him. 

“Deep enough,” the vampire said quietly, gently peeling back pieces of Trevor's damaged tunic and pulling the string tight. “Don't move, this will sting, but it will prevent infection,” he said, pulling a bundle of white flowers from his pouch and crushing them. To Trevor's disgust, Alucarcd then spit into the pulp and ground it between his palms before scooping some onto his fingers and going for the wound.

“Woah—no,” Trevor said, pushing against Sypha as he tried to get away.

“The flowers numb pain and facilitate healing,” Alucard reasoned, far more distress in his expression than any other time he'd played doctor to them. 

“And your saliva?” Trevor demanded. “What is that supposed to do??”

Alucard dropped his eyes, smoothing the poultice into the deep gash in Trevor's pectoral. “It helps to stop the bleeding and prevent infection,” he said quietly.

Trevor looked suspicious so Sypha held him a little tighter. He trembled in her grasp so she ran her free hand through his hair. 

“How does that work?” she asked.

“I inflicted the wound, so there are now markers infesting it that I can manipulate. Vampires are good at two things. Killing, and keeping a victim alive. It is natural because of the way that we feed that we are able to stop bleeding, numb pain, and prevent infection. Keeping someone alive and free of infection means they are useful to us longer,” he said softly. Trevor was pale, a cold sweat breaking out across his body. 

“How deep is it?” Sypha asked, worried at how much pain Trever was displaying. He normally handled injury well. And he'd passed out initially. That was a very bad sign.

For a long time Alucard didn't answer, just focused on working the salve in and then preparing the needle. “There was living bone under my fingernails,” he answered finally. 

The shock poured through Sypha like cold water and in her arms Trevor let out a breath that sounded more like an involuntary sob. His head was pressed into her collarbone and his eyes screwed shut, a tear actually striking down his cheek that he simply couldn't help. 

“What were—you dreaming about.....?” Trevor panted, grabbing Sypha's robes and gritting his teeth when Alucard started in with the needle.

“My mother,” Alucard said softly, his eyes fixed wholly on his work. “I should have taken watch tonight, I knew it was foolish to sleep. I cannot apologize enough.”

“Why tonight?” Sypha asked softly, still running her hand through Trevor's sweaty hair. 

“It is her birthday. She always feels nearest on her birthday, for some reason. The day they killed her doesn't haunt me so much as the day they stole from her.”

For a while it was quiet, Sypha's eyes cast down as she grieved for Alucard and tried not to dwell on the darkness that was man, on the darkness that had truly brought all this about. Trevor slowly relaxed and his breathing got easier until finally Alucard leaned in close and bit the line, leaving the four gashes in the hunter's chest neatly sewn back up. He used a clean cloth to wipe away the blood and the extra poultice before smearing more across the entire injury. 

“Belmont, can you sit up?” Alucard asked, unrolling a strip of clean linen he'd had tucked away. Trevor grunted and did, slowly, his stomach muscles standing out sharply even with Sypha's help. Alucard quickly wrapped the bandage around Trevor's chest, though with the torn muscle holding his left arm out of the way long enough was a struggle and Trevor was grinding his teeth together by the time he was finally allowed to collapse back again. 

“I can sew your tunic as well, since I know you have no change of clothes,” Alucard said, and Sypha's heart panged at how every syllable out of the dhampir's mouth sounded like he was trying so hard to apologize again. 

“I'll worry about the tunic...later,” Trevor said, grimacing as he tried to lace what was left of his shirt back up. 

“Let me,” Alucard intervened, quickly doing the ties up for him. “Your chest will heal fully in less than a week, but you may need to build back some of the strength in the muscle.”

Trevor grunted, waving a hand. “Muscle injury is nothing new. Several beasts have clawed me deeper than you did.”

Alucard didn't meet Trevor's eyes, starting instead to thread a new needle. “You don't seem angry.”

Trevor opened one eye. “Did you nearly rip my heart out on purpose?”

His hands were busy and his eyes cast down, preparing the needle, measuring thread. “No.”

He closed the eye and sighed with a grimace. “Then no, I'm not angry.”

Alucard looked up at that, his gold eyes puzzled and mixed with distress. “Why?”

“Because I know what it's like to see your family burn. You saw her burn, didn't you?” He opened his eyes, freezing the vampire with his gaze

He swallowed, looking away as his shoulders slumped for the first time since they met him. “Yes. I saw her. I could not save her. I only stood by out of sight, and listened to her plead with me to be better, to not take revenge because they didn't know what they were doing. The ash from her clothes stung my eyes, I smelled her flesh as it bubbled, and I could do nothing but listen to her beg for me to stay away and be different.” 

Sypha was horrified. Trevor's expression had gone hard, and he nodded, eyes tracking Alucard as he moved closer and bent to sew the slashes in the Belmont crest. It seemed to soothe him, having something to focus on, so Trevor let him. He only stopped him once to grip his arm. Alucard froze, but he didn't look up.

“I'm sorry, for what they did to her.”

Alucard gave no answer, but for the next half hour he took great care to stitch Trevor's crest back together so it was nearly new. Trevor lay there quietly and let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure if a vampire injures you, even accidentally, it's going to go pretty deep.


	2. Sypha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sypha's demons now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned for references to sexist thinking and attitudes, as well as implied abuse. Very mild, but sexism includes seeing women like meat and that's talked about here.

“So why do speakers do that,” Trevor asked, looking down at Sypha from his perch on top of a wall. He was scouting the upcoming terrain from on high while Alucard ran through it in wolf form, sniffing out potential threats. Sypha was settled with their things, acting as both guard and working on mixing new poultices according to mixtures Alucard had shown her. 

“Why do speakers do what?”

“Dress the girls like boys?”

“Why does it bother you?” she asked, her nose wrinkling a little.

“Uh-oh,” Trevor muttered. “Your nose went wrinkly, what did I say?”

“Answer the question, Belmont,” Sypha said, glaring up at him as she shoved another stick in the fire. “Why does it bother you?”

“It doesn't I'm just asking.”

“If you were just asking you wouldn't care one way or the other. You said you wish we wouldn't. That means something about it bothers you.”

He shrugged, huffing. “I didn't realize it was such a big deal, I guess—it's confusing,” he decided, glancing back to make sure Alucard was still good before turning to hang his legs off Sypha's side of the wall so he could look at her. 

“Why is it so important that you know my gender?”

Trevor made a face at that. “It doesn't bother you, being mistaken for a boy?”

“Not at all. It's comforting, actually,” Sypha said stiffly. Trevor frowned, discomfort coiling in his stomach.

“You said when you travel, it's safer....” 

“Yes,” she snapped, abandoning her brewing to look at him. Her expression was sharp. “It is safer, because being a woman that does not belong to some man like property is dangerous, Belmont.”

“I, Sypha I didn't mean--” Trevor tried to apologize, but she was flushed and her fists were balled up.

“No! You asked, I am telling you. So close your mouth and listen! I wear these robes for the same reason you wear your crest, and the cloak over that crest. Your crest identifies you with your people, your purpose. Your identity is in that crest, yes?”

He nodded, slowly slipping off the wall so they were on equal ground. 

“And people hate you for it. So you hide it. You keep it tucked away because there are people you don't know and have never met, who will rip you apart and spit on your remains just for being proud of what you are!” There were tears in her eyes then, and Trevor didn't dare try to get any closer or interject. 

“These robes mean I am a speaker! I am a protector of history and knowledge, I am a magician and a soul of compassion, and I am a woman. I am proud of being a woman, but it is not something the world is willing to accept. The way people react to you, a Belmont being well mannered or compassionate or worthy of respect is the way people react to me as a woman. I can do nothing without suspicion or dismissal. We learned very early, that when we speakers travel we are traveling in lands filled with minds who believe mine is less because I am a woman. Our women are respected, held in highest regard. Some of our most beloved speakers and every single mage in our history were women. And yet there are men and even other women who would sooner see me as a piece of meat!” 

Trevor knew first hand the ugly way people treated those they didn't respect. He saw the way beggar women and prostitutes were treated. He'd seen the way his own sisters had been talked to at times—but he hadn't ever thought that Sypha may dress like a man in order to have a breath away from all of that. It was a smack in the face how obvious it was, and yet it hadn't occurred to him. He worked his jaw, his brow furrowed in sympathy and anger at the same time, and when she finally fell silent he didn't feel like there was much at all he could say to that. 

“I'm sorry,” he said finally. “I truly did not realize.”

Sypha was dashing away tears, sniffing once without looking at him. “Please just, let it go,” she said quietly. He did immediately, and she sat down again, looking back into the fire without making a move to remove the salve that had started bubbling. Trevor carefully walked around the fire and took the pot off, not wanting it to burn. He watched her with concern, setting the salve aside to cool before scooping it into tins. 

He worked quietly for a long time, letting her have her space. She just sat staring into the fire, but after a while she began speaking. She was hesitant, her voice soft and slow and so unlike the speaker Trevor had gotten to know that he couldn't help pausing to look at her. She sat cross-legged, her hands in her lap as she stared into them and the soothing blue orb she'd conjured. 

“My family, my people too, are hunted. I told you that only women in my clan have been mages. We used to wear distinguishing robes, dress differently than our men and even the other women. We were proud of our power and our heritage. Others, people who were poisoned by the church and by superstition who believed that there was no virtue in magic, realized who we were and made our pride into shame. The women I call ancestor were hunted, burned, and drowned for their craft. My mother died for her magic, and my father died trying to defend her. When my grandfather realized I had inherited my mother's gift and her desire to develop it, he kept me close and I followed the safest path by pretending to be a boy. Now I am strong enough to defend myself and it no longer matters. Not with where we are going, but these robes remind me of home and of the sacrifice my parents made. I wear them to honor them as much as to shield myself.” She looked up at last, her eyes full of sorrow as they met Trevor's. “Now do you understand?”

Trevor nodded, about to say something else when the sound of Alucard's paws loping into camp distracted them both. The vampire transformed mid step with a grace he shouldn't have been able to maintain, looking at both his human companions with a raised eyebrow. “Everything alright? Trevor disappeared half way through my search.” 

“Figured you had it handled,” Trevor said lightly, screwing the lids on tins and moving a second pot of ointment over the fire. “Sypha got sick of brewing so I dropped down to help her.”

Alucard raised other eyebrow. “Indeed?” he looked at Sypha, a silent question in his eyes.

“Everything is alright, Alucard,” she assured him, knowing he could see how her eyes were slightly red. “Just, moments from the past.” 

His expression softened slightly and he nodded, sitting down with them. “I see. Well, I'm glad it appears that moment has passed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was harder for me to write. Can't tell if I'm just tired or what.


	3. Trevor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trevor gets drunk, and Sypha wants to be mad but she's too worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for Trevor's turn. His angst train is well known just from the show, so I focused more on the dark, dark places that may take him. Warning for suggestions of suicidal thoughts and feelings of uselessness. Don't worry, Sypha and Alucard won't stand for that kind of talk.

“Trevor, are you drunk!?”

“Quite,” Alucard said dryly, following Trevor into the room and watching him with a resigned expression as he flopped onto the bed. 

Sypha flushed, annoyance coloring every line of her body. “We discussed this!” she exclaimed. “We are not to be spending our coin on excess, especially not excess on something that could get us all killed. Are you listening to me, Belmont?” 

“Ugh, unfortunately,” Trevor muttered, flopping over onto his back and watching Sypha with a glassy expression. “It wasn't our coin, it was my coin, and I can spend it how I like.”

“Not when we are depending on each other to stay alive!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up as Alucard checked their surroundings and shut the door. They were holed up in a hut just outside of town. It had been snowing heavily for five days, and travel was simply too dangerous. The lack of progress meant a lack of tasks, and the lack of tasks meant Trevor wandered. Alucard went looking for him when he didn't come back by dark. 

“Oh, well, my fault of course but last I checked we are all still alive so you could save yelling about that.” 

“For now,” Alucard muttered, lighting a fire in the grate and forcing it into full blaze with a gesture. He stood and slipped his coat off, wrinkling his nose as he hung it on the mantle. “Thanks to you my coat is soaked and has your drool on the shoulder.”

Trevor snorted. “That's what you get for wearing crushed velvet to a vampire hunt.”

“It's not velvet,” Alucard said testily, narrowing his eyes. 

“Whatever it is, it's pompous and entirely inappropriate.”

“Oh like you honestly care about what's appropriate.”

“I care about the proper gear!” Trevor defended drunkenly. 

“Which, for you may be your clothing and your weapons but for me is my teeth and my speed. I could be naked and I'd be properly prepared. Be grateful I didn't take that route.”

Trevor's lip curled and he looked a little disgusted. “If you had been naked I would have drooled on you instead of your coat so who's really grateful here?”

“Still you, I expect, since I'd take much less kindly to having you slobber on my bare skin.” 

Sypha made a disgusted noise and waved a hand. “Can we please change the subject? Trevor,” she said pointedly, hands on her hips as she stared him down “are you alright?”

He wrinkled his nose and sat back on the bed, nestled up in his furry collar like an indignant owl. “Do I look alright?”

“No,” she said bluntly. “And if you are alright and decided to go get drunk just for fun, then frankly I'm immensely cross with you. However,” she said more gently. “I do not believe that is the case.”

Trevor looked away, his arms crossed and his jaw clenched tight. 

“Trevor,” she coaxed, sitting next to him on the bed. “What is it?”

“Why do you have to ask?” he snapped, glaring at her. “Why does anybody have to ask? Do you really want to hear all about it again? About how my family is all dead, how I'm the only one left and I probably won't live long enough to complete this quest let alone have a chance at passing on what I've learned? I'd settle for taking an apprentice at this point, since it's not very likely I'll have children of my own. And do you know what, I'm failing my family there too!” 

Alucard's brow furrowed and Sypha pressed her lips together.

“How are you failing your family?” Alucard asked, setting a pot over the fire and preparing a sleeping tincture with a mortar and pestle he'd had in his bag. “If you feel you are letting them down by your lack of an heir there is still time to fix that. Until you are truly dead, behaving like all is lost is not like you and not helpful.”

“Oh screw off on what's helpful,” Trevor hissed. “If I'd have been there when half my family was lynched in our home either this burden wouldn't be mine alone or I would have died with them. Either would have been preferable.”

“Now you don't mean that,” Sypha said sternly, grasping Trevor's hand and only squeezing harder when he tried to pull away. “You spoke so proudly of your heritage when you finally chose to stop hiding it. I know this is grief, not your true soul speaking.”

Trevor stared at their hands, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. 

“Now, has something set this on?” Sypha asked, reaching out to cup Trevor's cheek. He didn't pull away this time and she stroked her thumb over the stubble on his jaw. 

“The quiet. The sound of my own stubborn heartbeat,” Trevor said dully, closing his eyes. “I am useless if I am not working.”

“I entirely disagree with that,” Alucard said, taking water that had begun to steam and mixing it with the tea he'd crushed. “The quiet is time for you to rest. Slay the demons of your heart first, Belmont. Then you will be able to see that.” 

Trevor's lip curled but he was losing his fire. “Don't you think I would have already if I knew how?”

“Yes, I believe you would have,” Alucard replied, stirring the tea around patiently and then blowing on it to make sure it was a safe temperature. “But demons of the mind rarely listen to their host.” He moved to the bed and sat on Trevor's other side, holding the tea out to him. “You need help to manage them.” 

Trevor stared at the cup for a long time before finally reaching out and taking it. “And I suppose you are offering?” he said, the resentful tone not able to fully disguise the hope inside his words. 

“We both are,” Sypha said, brushing Trevor's hair back and turning his head toward her so she could kiss his cheek. “You are far from useless. The world would be a much darker place without you.”

“Since you woke me I've witnessed you save countless lives and improve many others,” Alucard said, watching the way Sypha hovered closer and closer, the way her eyes sharpened in fear and protective anger when Trevor even suggested fading away. “Your heart is stubborn, true, but that is because it is the center of your spirit as a warrior. It is also compassionate, and noble. You miss them because of this, but you honor them through it.” 

Trevor blinked, wiping away what could have been tears before sipping at his tea. He sniffed, just absorbing. 

Alucard smiled sadly, resting a hand on Trevor's shoulder. “I'm amazed I've actually rendered you mute.” 

“For now,” Trevor said, side-eyeing Alucard with a half-hearted glare. 

The dhampir chuckled softly and squeezed Trevor's shoulder. “I look forward to sparring with you when you've sobered. Verbally or otherwise. Finish your tea, take some real rest. Sypha and I will keep watch.” 

Trevor grunted, but he obeyed, quickly growing powerfully drowsy. 

“You should know,” Alucard's voice filtered in soft and etherial as Trevor nodded off. “I've come to enjoy the sound of your heart beating, Belmont, and not for the reasons you may suspect. It pains me to hear you resent its vitality. Please, do not despise something so very beautiful.” 

A clawed hand carded gently through his hair and lips pressed to his temple before the touch disappeared like mist and he fell into a dreamless sleep. 

Sypha curled up next to Trevor with her head on his chest, listening with unease to the long pauses between heartbeats. He'd told her that alcohol aggravated his condition, and that it was harmless, but it was still unsteadying to witness when he'd just admitted to such dark thoughts. Alucard caught her worried expression and shook his head.

“He is in no danger,” the dhampir assured, placing a new pot on the fire. “I've listened to him every night since we began traveling. I know what you both sound like now. Tonight is no different, and in the better part of an hour my tea will take root. He'll even out then.”

Sypha nodded, shoulders relaxing a little and trying not to worry. Alucard had the best medical knowledge anyone was capable of having. She could trust him. 

Sure enough, less than an hour passed and Trevor's body slowed down, settling into a rhythm so steady Sypha drifted off against it. Alucard smiled to see his two companions curled together, especially when Trevor's arm wrapped around Sypha's back later in the night. 

“No heirs indeed,” he chuckled to himself, poking at the fire and swapping pots. “We will see about that prediction.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alucard ships it. 
> 
> I̶'̶m̶ ̶f̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶r̶e̶v̶o̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶t̶b̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶


End file.
